Editing Insular script (section)

{{short description|Medieval writing system common to Ireland and England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2008}}
{{Infobox writing system
|name= Insular (Gaelic) script
|type= [[Alphabet]]
|time= {{floruit}} 600–850 AD
|languages= [[Latin]], [[Old Irish]], [[Old English]]
|fam1      = [[Latin alphabet|Latin script]]
|fam2      = 
|children= [[Gaelic type]]
|sample= BookDurrowInitMark86r.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption=The beginning of the [[Gospel of Mark]] from the [[Book of Durrow]]
|iso15924= 
}}
'''Insular script''' is a [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[script (styles of handwriting)|script]] system originating in Ireland that spread to [[England]] and continental Europe under the influence of [[Hiberno-Scottish mission|Irish Christianity]]. Irish missionaries took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries, such as [[Bobbio Abbey|Bobbio]]. The scripts were also used in monasteries, like [[Fulda monastery|Fulda]], which were influenced by English missionaries. They are associated with [[Insular art]], of which most surviving examples are [[illuminated manuscript]]s. It greatly influenced modern [[Gaelic type]] and handwriting.

The term "Insular script" is used to refer to a diverse family of scripts used for different functions. At the top of the hierarchy was the Insular [[half-uncial]] (or "Insular [[majuscule]]"), used for important documents and sacred text. The full [[uncial]], in a version called "English uncial", was used in some English centres. Then "in descending order of formality and increased speed of writing" came "set [[Lowercase|minuscule]]", "cursive minuscule" and "current minuscule". These were used for non-scriptural texts, letters, accounting records, notes, and all the other types of written documents.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Michelle P. Brown |last=Brown |first=Michelle P. |title=Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age |page=13 (quoted) |date=2007 |publisher=British Library |isbn=978-0-7123-0680-5}}</ref>